The Prime Minister recently said that India aspires to host the 2036 Olympics Games. This has been a dream for successive governments and sports officials. Hosting the Olympics would not only underscore India’s importance as a sporting nation, but also enable it to assert its geopolitical power and showcase development. 

Here, we discuss whether India is ready to host the Olympics? 

Guests: Manisha Malhotra, Head of Sports Excellence and Scouting with JSW Sports; Norris Pritam, journalist with over three decades of experience in covering multi-discipline events including six Olympics

Host: Uthra Ganesan

A week ago, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu accused the Union government of showing a “step-motherly attitude” towards the State over devolution of funds. Around at the same time, at a media conclave, Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor spoke about the potential danger of political disenfranchisement in the south when the delimitation freeze ends in 2026. These statements have brought the tussle over the distribution of Central taxes as well as the delimitation of constituencies to the fore. 

Here we discuss whether the south is being punished for its success. 

On October 2, the Bihar government released the data of its caste survey. The data showed that the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) together account for about 84% of the population. This has reopened the debate on whether the 50% legal ceiling on caste-based reservation should be removed. 

Here we discuss this question. 

Guests: Kalaiyarasan A., Assistant Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Research Affiliate at the South Asia Institute, Harvard University; Alok Prasanna Kumar, Co-Founder and Lead, Vidhi Karnataka

Host: Pon Vasanth B

Nearly a year after the Union government decided to cut the number of prizes annually awarded by its science-affiliated Ministries, it has instituted the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) — 56 prizes to felicitate scientists, technologists and innovators. However, like the Padma awards, these awards will no longer have a cash component. 

Here we discuss whether removing money reduce the prestige of awards.

Guests: Shekhar Mande, former Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; Dinesh Sharma, a science journalist and author

Host: Jacob Koshy

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like the proverbial genie out of the bottle. In less than a year, chatbots like ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, and Pi have shown what gen AI-powered applications can do. These tools have also revealed their vulnerabilities, which has pushed policymakers and scientists to think deeply about these new systems. 

Should generative AI be regulated? We discuss the question here.

Guests: Arul George Scaria, an Associate Professor of Law at the National Law School of India; Trisha Ray, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Centre

Host: John Xavier

The INDIA bloc recently announced that it would boycott 14 television news anchors as it did not did not want to legitimise a “hate-filled narrative.” It said that no representatives from the parties of the alliance will appear on the shows helmed by these anchors. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the move showed an “Emergency-era mindset,” while news broadcasters associations accused the Opposition of intolerance, undermining democracy, and setting a dangerous precedent. 

Is the Opposition’s stand justified? Here we discuss the question. 

Last week, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department for his alleged complicity in the ₹371-crore A.P. Skill Development Corporation ‘scam’, which reportedly took place during his term as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister between 2014 and 2019. The TDP termed the arrest a “political vendetta” against Mr. Naidu by the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government. The ruling party argued that there is “clinching evidence” in the case. 

Here we discuss whether corruption cases against politicians are driven by political rivalries.

Guests: Trilochan Sastry is chairman of the Association for Democratic Reforms and former Dean at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru; Sanjay Hegde is a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India

Host: Sumit Bhattacharjee

Despite India posting impressive economic growth numbers, employment has not seen a commensurate increase. With five States going to the polls at the end of the year, political parties have been announcing several promises, largely to address concerns of price rise of essentials. 

Are these promises a distraction from providing solutions to what appears to be a systemic concern – jobless growth? Here we discuss the question.

Torrential rains in several parts of north India, particularly Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, damaged highways and buildings, and took hundreds of lives. While a warming Arctic is said to be a cause for the unusually heavy rains, years of haphazard planning and construction have multiplied the tragedy. Are natural disasters man-made? Vimal Mishra and Lubaina Rangwalla discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Jacob Koshy. Edited excerpts:

Every year, particularly in the monsoon, we witness extreme natural calamities. However, this is also the result of poor planning. To what extent are natural disasters man-made?

On August 10, the Union government introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that proposed that the selection panel for appointing the Election Commission, comprising the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs), will consist of the Prime Minister as the chairperson, the Leader of the Opposition as a member, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister as another member. In March, the Supreme Court had ruled that the selection panel should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI). The Opposition has been arguing that the replacement of the CJI with a Cabinet Minister in the Bill indicates that the government is trying to make the poll body a puppet. 

Should the CJI be part of the committee nominating the CEC? We discuss this issue here.